Litchfield's ton and screamer cap dominant night for Australia

Phoebe Litchfield’s second ODI hundred and a ruthless display with the ball have seen Australia thrash India by 190 runs to seal a series whitewash at Wankhede Stadium.

Litchfield's 125-ball 119 and an emphatic return to form by captain Alyssa Healy (82) laid the foundation before Alana King’s flurry saw Australia to 7-338 – their highest total against India.

Australia were then clinical with the ball and brilliant in the field, with Georgia Wareham (3-23), Megan Schutt (2-23), Annabel Sutherland (2-9) and King (2-21) splitting the wickets as India were rolled for 148 in 32.4 overs.

Schutt gave Australia the ideal start when she removed a frustrated Yastika Bhatia (6 off 14), who was bowled attempting a scoop, and she had a second when Smriti Mandhana (29 off 29) holed out to Kim Garth on the rope.

Beth Mooney’s clever anticipation then secured the key wicket of Harmanpreet Kaur on three.

As the India captain moved into position to sweep Wareham, Mooney start running across from slip towards leg-slip, and a miscued shot saw the ball lob up for a simple catch.

From there, it was a procession. When Richa Ghosh’s attempted sweep off Wareham caught the underside of her bat and ricocheted onto the stumps, bowling her for a 29-ball 19, and when Jemimah Rodrigues (25 off 27) picked out King at short midwicket, India were 5-98.

Litchfield’s dream day continued when she took a one-handed stunner at cover. The left-hander had already taken a contender for catch of the series in the previous game but she managed to top it with a full-length dive to her right to dismiss Amanjot Kaur.

From there the Aussies rolled through the remainder of the Indian batting line-up; King produced the dream legbreak to bowl Pooja Vastrakar (14), and Sutherland picked up two wickets in two balls to leave India nine down.

Mooney then held a low catch at slip to seal victory and give Wareham a third.

Opting to bat first on another hot Mumbai winter’s day, Litchfield and Healy barely looked to get out of first gear despite dominating from ball one.

They put on 189 in 28.5 overs for the first wicket – breaking the previous best opening stand of 169 by any team against India.

Litchfield came into the match off scores of 78 and 63 in the first two matches but went even bigger third time around, bringing up triple figures of 109 deliveries.

It has continued what has been a breakout first year of ODI cricket for the 20-year-old from Orange, who hit back-to-back fifties against Pakistan on debut last January, then struck her first one-day hundred against Ireland in July.

Deploying a combination of textbook shots and reverse sweeps, Litchfield brought up a third consecutive fifty off 50 deliveries.

At the other end, Healy broke a streak of low scores with 82 off 85 balls, in her first 50-plus ODI innings since the 2022 World Cup final, but she was denied a century when she miscued a pull shot against Vastrakar and the ball ricocheted off her hip onto her stumps.

Her dismissal sparked a 4-27 mini-collapse with Ellyse Perry (16) trapped plumb by Amanjot while Mooney (3) and Tahlia McGrath (0) were also out lbw off successive Shreyanka Patil deliveries.

Litchfield spent 23 balls in the nineties but held her nerve as wickets fell at the other end, and celebrated her century in typically modest fashion, briefly removing her helmet and gesturing towards the Australian dugout.

Her 125-ball innings finally came to an end on 119 as she looked to hit the accelerator but holed out off the bowling of Deepti Sharma.

Ashleigh Gardner (30 off 27) and Sutherland (23 off 21) kept Australia’s momentum going before No.10 King (26no from 14) smacked three sixes to lift the tourists to a record total.

Litchfield had statisticians reaching for the record books throughout her innings.

The left-hander finished the ODI series with 260 runs at 86.66, as she became the first woman to hit three 50-plus scores in a three-game ODI series both against and in India.

Litchfield is the second Australian woman to hit a one-day ton at Wankhede, following Meg Lanning, who hit a ton at the iconic Mumbai ground during the 2013 World Cup.

Australia and India now move east to Navi Mumbai where the three-game T20I series begins on January 5 (12.30am AEDT January 6).

India XI: Yastika Bhatia, Smriti Mandhana, Richa Ghosh (wk), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Mannat Kashyap, Amanjot Kaur, Pooja Vastrakar, Shreyanka Patil, Renuka Singh Thakur

Australia XI: Phoebe Litchfield, Alyssa Healy (c) (wk), Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ashleigh Gardner, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Alana King, Kim Garth, Megan Schutt

Australia's CommBank Tour of India

Test match: India won by eight wickets

First ODI: Australia won by six wickets

Second ODI: Australia won by three runs

Third ODI: Australia won by 190 runs

January 5: First T20I, DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai

January 7: Second T20I, DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai

January 9: Third T20I, DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai

Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Lauren Cheatle (Test only), Heather Graham, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris (T20s only), Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham

India Test squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Shubha Satheesh, Harleen Deol, Saika Ishaque, Renuka Singh Thakur, Titas Sadhu, Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar